Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 -- Mattie died 654 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. This was at Mattie's second birthday party! It was held in the backyard of my friend's house and Reptiles Alive came and did a fabulous presentation for the children. As you can see our friend, James, even dressed up like a roach and presented Mattie with a roach shaped cake. Mattie was into the whole notion of roaches, particularly because he knew it creeped me out! It was a party to remember.

Quote of the day: Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. ~ Margaret Mitchell

Today is my dad's 87th birthday. I got him up, showered, dressed, and downstairs for breakfast. We surprised him with a BIG balloon and gifts. It was a busy day for him with an occupational therapy session, a visit from my friend Ann, phone calls, and even a walk outside. 

It was a glorious weather day, and it was the first time my parents got to have lunch outside on our porch. Seems like a very fitting place to celebrate a birthday. Outside in nature. 

My dad with his big balloon. Peter bought this great big balloon and I think it is perfect, as my dad can't miss seeing it and it reminds him about his birthday. 

This was one of the gifts we gave my dad today! One of the things he still loves doing is EATING!

In the midst of what should be a happy day, I took Sunny to the vet for a routine senior ultrasound. Sunny's new vet told us he likes to give ultrasounds on older dogs to try to catch issues before they arise. Sounded good to us, so I booked today's appointment. 

As soon as the vet came into the room, I KNEW something wasn't right. I have gotten good at knowing when BAD news is coming my way. This is a doctor who is typically jovial and a talker. He came in serious and very scientific. 

Make a long story short, Sunny has a huge mass in his bladder, a mass on his spleen and has swollen adrenal glands. The vet asked me if Sunny has been lethargic, drinking more water, and urinating more. Honestly the answer is NO! To me Sunny has NO signs of any issues. In fact, when the vet came into the room after the testing, his first question to me was.... remind me, why do you think we were doing today's test? My response was, you said this was a good idea to do as a preventative for senior dogs. Of course I knew this was a leading question because what he found was NOT something any of us were expecting. Naturally I wanted to know why his former vet never found any of this, as masses like this don't grow overnight. His response was these masses can not be detected by examination and touch. Which is why he recommends an ultrasound for his older patients. 

Today's visit reminded me of when I took Mattie in for a routine x-ray! Within minutes I went from living a normal life, to facing the worst nightmare possible. Which is why any kind of testing makes me anxious. You just never know what these assessments will find. The vet has asked for me to give him more time to figure out next steps for Sunny, as we are talking about multiple masses, and he is waiting for Sunny's urine culture to also come back. So Friday we chat with the vet again and this time, I am pulling Peter into the conversation. If you couldn't tell from Mattie's blog, I LOVE Sunny. I may have rescued him, but in so many ways he has rescued me.